The Poison Pen
by GreenForestyne
Summary: A man is found dead on the streets on London with no apparent cause only that he started to foam at the mouth causing a seizure. Lestrade calls upon the help of Sherlock and John to solve this mysterious case but as one thing leads to another the case seems a lot more complicated than they first suspected. Rated T just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

Hello Everyone! This is my first Sherlock Fanfiction I hope I do the TV show justice :) This Fanfic is dedicated to my friend Alicia who Is a massive Sherlock Fan like myself and gave me the idea to make a Sherlock Fic. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Let the Case Begin...

"Good Morning dear what would you like for breakfast? I have some toast on the tray or would you just like some tea?" Mrs Hudson asked as she laid the tray down on the coffee table and began to set out small cups onto coasters dotted about the table.

"Morning Mrs Hudson, I'll just have some tea if that's alright" John walked into the room and sat comfortably down in the large armchair nearest the kitchen. "Do you know if Sherlock is up yet?" He asked flipping up a newspaper to begin some intense reading.

"I'm not too sure love; he will probably be in soon." Mrs Hudson replied with a warm smile.

"Ahh good morning John; Mrs Hudson, lovely morning isn't it?" Sherlock entered the room with a large grin as he straightened up his jacket near the fireplace.

"Morning dear would you like some tea?" She asked presenting the tall man with a steaming cup of tea

"That won't be nessesery Mrs Hudson but thank you for the offer" Sherlock politely dismissed the gesture and spun on his heels towards the comfy couch hiding behind the coffee table that was dressed with cups of tea and slices of toast.

"What have you done?" queried john still inspecting the news for anything interesting to read.

"What do you mean? There is nothing wrong, nothing at all, why would you suggest that something was wrong when as you can see there is clearly nothing wrong." Sherlock quickly retorted in a rambling muddle of words that seemed to just flow from his mouth like a river. "I mean if there was something truly wrong I would tell you but seeing as there isn't anything in the slightest wrong I have no more to say on the matter"

John had looked up from his newspaper half way through the rambling and just stared at Sherlock with a face all too familiar with the consulting detective. The raised eye brow look.

"I never said anything was wrong" He finally spoke laying the newspaper on his lap and taking a quick gulp from his tea cup Mrs Hudson had so carefully placed next to him.

"Oh you didn't? Well that's awkward"

"Did you give the neighbour's dog a shock collar again?"

"What? No! That was a one off..."

"You've been dissecting things again haven't you? What did I say about doing that? Last time you did something like that I found a pig's eye in the kettle.

"No, that was an experiment. How was I meant to know you would actually want to drink something?"

"Well what then?" He took another mouthful of his tea.

"That's not cow's milk in your tea... It's cat milk."

"WHAT!?" John sprayed out the tea from his mouth towards Sherlock who quickly armed himself with a pillow for cover. "How did you get your hands on cat milk?!"

"Tabby down the road..." He replied inspecting the pillow for any signs of tea.

John shot a glare at Sherlock who met him with a smile which quickly shot to the floor. "Well I suppose I should have expected something like that." John commented as he re-seated himself and began to slightly smile back at the detective.

"Anyway" Sherlock clapped his hands and bounced up from the sofa "what's in the news?" then claimed one of the newspapers on the desk as him own.

"Man dies after shooting a cactus... self explanatory and the definition of stupidity, umm what else...hmm there is a plot of land for sale by the old library... And the prime minister believes we need more homes in London, as if were not crampt enough already. I mean is there anything that is slightly interesting in the news anymore?" Sherlock released a loud, over dramatic sigh and quickly flicked through the remainder of the newspaper scanning for anything slightly interesting. "Well that concludes the news. Boring."

"You need a hobby..." John commented whilst shoving a large piece of buttered toast into his mouth.

"Oh? What makes you say that? Sherlock turned to face his flat mate with a questioning face.

John just looked at sherlock for a moment. "You milked a Cat."

"I have...hobbies..." Sherlock struggled with thinking what would class as a 'hobby' that he participaped in but nothing sprung to mind.

"Changing the hiding place of your cigarette stash every week doesn't count... By the way I know you hide them in a white shoe under the sofa." The Doctor began tapping away at his keyboard googling and typing different things.

The consulting detective strided over to the sofa and quickly flicked up the blanket looking rather suspicious and slightly worried.

"Where are they?!" a mixture of panic and anger set in as he shot a look towards John for answers.

"You'll be fine Sherlock; you did it before you can do it again"

"Listen John I need them, I can't think straight without them..."

"You're functioning perfectly fine without them now."

"John you can be a real pain in the..."

Sherlock was cut off by a loud, heavy knock at the door capturing both his and Johns attention.

"Hello? Sherlock? It's Lestrade." Sherlock glared at John who had resumed reading his newspaper, as he walked towards the door and turned the knob to greet Lestrade.

"Hello Sherlock, John." He nodded politely at both the Detective and Doctor sharing a small smile with the other gentlemen.

"What have you got Lestrade? Have anything remotely Interesting for me?" Sherlock walked over to the sofa and pulled up his trousers by his knees before he sat down and crossed his legs.

"Well It's funny you should ask, I got a call from the station earlier today about a death..."

"What was it? murder?, Suicide? Both?"John interjected curiously.

"Ooo both... That sounds interesting..." sherlock mumbled as he leant forward to rest his chin on his hands that were now together.

"That's the thing we dont know, he just dropped dead."Lestrade shrugged his shoulders and looked at sherlock for a possible explanation.

"Tell me again inspector what you actually do as an Inspector because I seem to be doing your work for you" Sherlock stood up and grabbed hold of his coat and began to put it on.

"So you're not interested?" Questioned the Inspector looking fairly confused that he would turn down such an unusual case.

Just as Sherlock reopened the door and finished up putting his scarf on "Of course I am!" The consulting detective strode out the door and down the stairs"Common john we have a case to solve!"

John quickly got out of his chair, putting his half eaten toast down to reach for his coat and then tried to put it on as he shot down the stairs towards his flat mate who was waiting anxiously to leave and see the crime scene.

So for the first chapter I know not much happened but I just thought I'd set the scene :) Please review and I'll upload the next chapter shortly :)


	2. Chapter 2

Here is the second chapter Hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 2: Detective work

Sherlock and John arrived at the crime scene in the black cab that pulled up near the long line of police tape surrounding the pavement. Lestrade wasn't far behind in his squad car who also parked up by the curb and got out to meet one of the forensic experts by the body.

John pushed open the cab door and stepped out, thanking the driver as he did whilst Sherlock got out and pulled off his gloves, exchanging them for plastic ones, ready to inspect the crime scene.

The area that was sectioned off was littered with forensic teams and tables of evidence adorned with samples from the victim. Cameras could be heard snapping away in the background noise accompanied by the low hum of humans communicating on the crime scene.

The young detective strode under the tape like he owned the place closely followed by John. After getting the latest from the forensic specialists Lestrade walked closer to the body that lay flat on its back and gestured towards Sherlock to take a look whilst giving him the information the police had already obtained.

"Right, this is Chris Wood aged 26; He was on his way to work this morning when witnesses say that they saw him have a seizure, the only thing is, after around 30 seconds he started foaming at the mouth, after which he collapsed and died soon after." Sherlock crouched down to get a closer look at the victim, using his mini magnifying tool to look closely at every inch of the mans body whilst Lestrade continued. "We think he may have been poisoned but there doesn't seem to be any sign of an entrance to the body, not even orally."

John looked on at the detective hard at work whilst his own mind was working and stimulating some cobwebbed cogs " So, you cant find any trace of poison in his blood either?" queried the doctor anticipating an answer from the detective inspector next to him.

"We don't know yet; some samples were taken off to the lab but I haven't had any feedback from the forensics team yet."

Some time went by without any word from the consulting detective who was vigorously studying every inch of the specimen on the floor. Yet after a few minutes of detective work... Nothing?

"I don't understand" Sherlock stood up from his crouched stance and looked towards John. " The man doesn't seem to have drank the poison, injected it, smelt it, breathed it, or come into any ..." Then it clicked. "contact"

John and Lestrade glanced a look at each other as Sherlock seemed to have a realisation about something or other... This seemed to happen quite frequently at crime scene

"What about 'contact'" Lestrade finally said piping up from his confused state of mind.

"Contact!" The detective shot down to the victim once more and started examining. When nothing was said in response to his exclamation he glanced over his shoulder "Oh common really?!" after receiving blank looks once again he decided to elaborate. "What is the main thing that humans use more than any other body part?"

It took a brief moment for John to respond "Hands"

"Exactly! The probability that Mr Wood's hand came into contact with the poison is much higher than it coming into contact with any other part of his body. Also seeing as his other body parts are fairly well covered it makes it more likely it was indeed by hand contact." Sherlock had started analysing the man's thumbs and fingers throughout his explanation when he spotted what he was looking for just below the thumb nail.

"Do you have a swab I can use?" Sherlock stretched out his hand towards the detective inspector in expectance of the item requested.

Lestrade quickly walked over to one of the tables and grabbed a fresh swab vile from a sterilised bag and handed it over to Sherlock.

He opened up the cap and extracted the swab and wiped the cotton bud over the very faint black smudge on the victims thumb. Placing the swab back in its vile he quickly got up and looked towards Lestrade.

"I need you to go interview his mother and see if she knows anything about how he came into contact with the poison"

"His mother? Why her?" questioned Lestrade placing both his hands in his coat pockets.

Sherlock let out a sigh and gestured to the man's blouse. " You can obviously see that the man lives with his mother, the blouse he is wearing is perfectly ironed in all the right places meaning that the person has had quite a few years ironing blouses. Also by his age of 26 he most likely would have just graduated from university..."

"How do you know he just graduated from university? He might not have even gone?" John butted in on the detective's explanation but his question was quickly answered

"well you can see by his middle finger that he has been writing with pens and pencils a lot referring this to his mouth he has been chewing them as well; very unprofessional, and judging by the brief case he was holding it looks new and it hasn't been used very much. Lastly his overall suit look very new and he is well presented... Only newbies to the work place pull out all the stops for their new job which in Mr Woods case would be an accountant or Lawyer which you would need to go to university for." Sherlock rounded off his massive, fast paced explanation and repeated what he originally wanted the doctor and Inspector to do for him.

"Right so as i said before i need you to interview his mother."

"What are you going to do then?" John asked Sherlock waiting for a reasonable excuse.

"I'm going to analyse this at the lab. Don't worry Ill get the results back to you as soon as possible." The detective gave a grin at his friend and quickly dashed off towards the curb and waved for a cab.

"Well looks like we will be going to see Mrs Wood..." Lestrade mumbled as he wiped out his phone to ask for the ladies address. "12 Gayfere Street, Westminster, London" John and Lestrade walked towards the police squad car and got in ready to get some answers from the victim's mother.

Hope you like the second chapter :) please review and think you for reading :)


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